The Mercer Apparatus
by UnseenHalloween
Summary: When Dana discovers a strange sound that seems to render the infected useless, her attempts to help Alex go horribly wrong. Rated T for blood, violence, and language.
1. It Works

A girl was standing in a dark alleyway in Manhattan. She wore normal clothes and appeared to be waiting for somebody. She ran her fingers through her short hair while holding onto a laptop with the other hand. Then, checking her watch she looked up with a somewhat worried look on her face.

All of a sudden a figure dropped from the roof above her, landing a few yards behind her. The girl turned quickly. The figure walked up to her, his hood covering up his face. The girl sighed and then said, "Finally. I was starting to think you screwed something up Alex."

Alex turned away. "Sorry, I did get a little caught up. But that doesn't matter. Were you able to find anymore information Dana?"

"Well yeah. That's why I brought this," she answered, lifting up the laptop in her hands. She opened it and was about to turn on the power, but Alex swiftly closed it before she could. "Hey!"

"Not here." Alex said quickly. "The light will bring unwanted attention."

Dana nodded and looked down the alley as if waiting for a military soldier or zombie to appear. Hearing movement behind her she turned to see Alex flip over the top of a building. Sighing, Dana ran out of the ally and onto the sidewalk. Looking around before moving on, she ran around to the entrance of the building of which Alex had jumped up to.

Knowing that there wouldn't be anyone inside, Dana kicked down the boards that were blocking the doorway. Ducking underneath them, she went inside. Looking around, she quickly located the stairs and ran over to them. She took the steps two at a time all the way up the five floors. She then reached the door to the roof.

Opening the door, Dana stepped out into the cold air. Looking around the top of the roof she didn't see Alex. She walked over to the edge of the roof and looked over the street. She sighed again at the sight. Almost everything lay in ruins. She heard footsteps behind her, but didn't turn. She knew it would be Alex. After all, there really wasn't anyone else it could be.

Alex stepped up beside her. Dana turned to look at him. She could partially see his face now that they had left the ally. He still had a harsh look to him, but she could also see sadness in his eyes as he looked out over the streets they could see. "Alex? What's wrong?"

Alex turned to look at her, the hint of sadness gone. "Nothing." He then turned and began to walk towards the door to the stairs. Jumping up onto the roof of the stairwell, Alex sat down still looking over the streets. Dana walked over to him but didn't say anything. She knew that he believed everything was his fault, and that he was the infection that had caused all of this.

Even though the infection had started with him, Dana knew that he was still her brother and that he still cared about her. He was not a monster, or the reason of any of this. He was merely somebody who got caught in the middle of something that should have never happened in the first place.

Dana felt as if she should say something to Alex. She turned up to him. "Alex, I hope you realize I don't blame you for anything, and nobody should. If anything is to blame, it's Blacklight."

Alex glared down at Dana. She then realized she had said something wrong. Standing up, Alex jumped up too high for Dana to see. Looking up, Dana heard the sound of him gliding away. She ran to the edge of the roof. "Alex, wait!"

Dana looked hopefully up to the sky waiting for Alex to turn around and come back, but she knew he wouldn't. looking down at the laptop she was holding, she realized she hadn't gotten the chance to show Alex what she had found. Turning around she began to walk to the door to the stairs, thinking about what she had said to Alex.

Blacklight was the cause for all of this. Alex had taken this the wrong way. Dana assumed that he had thought he was the reason for Blacklight and therefore the reason for everything. What Dana had meant was the whole idea of Blacklight was the cause. Alex was just doing his job and then tried to stop them from doing something horrific. If project Blacklight had never been started then none of this would have ever happened.

Dana opened the door to the stairs. She walked down to the bottom floor and looked around more closely this time. It appeared that it had been a small business building. She walked over to the light switch and clicked it upwards. The lights overhead made a zap sound and there was a spark, but then nothing. "Of course they don't work… At least I know electricity is still running though."

Looking around again, Dana noticed a front desk. She walked over to it hoping to find a computer with internet connection. Moving behind the desk Dana jumped when she saw the dead receptionist sprawled out on the ground. Calming herself down, Dana looked on the desk for the computer. It was there, but its screen was smashed and its wires were broken.

Sighing, Dana placed her laptop on the desk and picked up the knocked over chair from the floor. Sitting in the chair, she then opened her laptop and turned it on. There was no wireless signal. Dana scratched her head with a frown. "I guess I'll have to stick with the Gentech files I already have."

Dana closed her laptop and stood up. Leaning on the desk she looked around once again. The windows were all boarded up, letting in little light. Un-watered potted plants by the windows had shriveled up, turning a dead brown color. Looking back over to the stairs, Dana decided to check the floors above to see if there was an internet cord of some sort.

Leaving her computer on the desk, Dana climbed up the first set of stairs to the second floor. There was a hall on this floor and because there were no windows, it was almost pitch black. She walked down the hall a little ways, and entered a doorway on the right. There was a window in this room, so she could see a little better now.

There was a bed in the room, and a small desk. Dana decided that the people who worked here must have lived there too. She walked right over to the desk and looked behind it for cords. Nothing. You would think that business people all had laptops. Apparently not.

Standing up, Dana looked around the room for other places laptop cords could be, not finding anything that would help her. She was just about to go back into the hallway and try the next room when she realized for the first time how quite it was.

It had been much quieter since the infection spread, but even then you could hear the sound of zombies gurgling and the sound of Hunters roaring in the distance. Dana walked back to the window. There were two boards over it, but there was a gap in between. She peered out over the street. There was nothing at all. Complete silence.

Dana half wondered if Alex had finally ended everything somehow. She decided she should continue to search for an internet cord nevertheless. Stepping back out into the hallway, Dana walked a few steps down the hall to the next doorway. She was about to enter when she heard a noise coming from the bottom floor of the building.

Swinging around to face the stairwell door Dana listened for another noise. There was silence again for a few seconds, but then there was a thunk; the sound of wooden boards being smashed. After that, there was then a loud shuffling sound of broken building remains being pushed aside. Telling herself it was just Alex; Dana inched down the hall towards the stairs. Knowing better, but ignoring instinct, Dana opened the door and moved to the top of the stairs.

Slowly beginning to make her way down the stairs, Dana made sure she was as quite as she could be. Strange shuffling noises continued to be heard as Dana reached the lower door. She put her hand on the doorknob and slowly began to turn it. A bellowing roar of a Hunter came from the other side of the door and Dana pulled her hand away and began to run up the stairs. The roar continued for several seconds and then stopped. Dana stopped running.

She stood in the stair well waiting to hear if it was pursuing her. If it hadn't heard her while it was roaring, then she didn't want it to hear her now. She waited what felt like five minutes to her. She knew it was shorter than that, but it was definitely long enough to be sure it wasn't following. More shuffling came from behind the door below her, but it wasn't anywhere near the door.

Realizing that she had to get out of the building before the Hunter scented her, Dana started to slowly make her way up the stairs as quietly as she could. Going up each step as the Hunter shuffled around downstairs and stopping whenever it stopped. Eventually she reached the roof.

She ran silently over to the edge of the roof, hoping to cross over to another roof or go down the fire escape. Then she realized she had made a fatal mistake. She had left her laptop on the receptionist desk where the Hunter now was. With all of the important Gentech files and other essential findings she had on it, she couldn't afford to lose it.

Dana turned around and sprinted over to the stairs. She ran down them as quietly as she could mange. She reached the bottom floor door and approached it carefully. There were no longer any shuffling noises coming from the other side, but there was a hushed slurping sound along with the occasional snort.

Dana turned the handle on the door and this time slowly began to open it. She opened it just enough to stick her head out and look over to the desk with her laptop on it. The Hunter was standing right next to the desk. The slurping sound Dana had heard had been coming from it, standing over the dead receptionist's body, ripping and gulping at the flesh. The slimy purple skin of the Hunter shown in the light from the boarded up windows as it ripped off more flesh, swallowing another mouthful with another loud slurp.

Dana then realized why the Hunter had come here. It had smelled the receptionist's rotting flesh. The reek of decaying corpses was common now and Dana hadn't noticed how strong the receptionist's stench was.

Analyzing the situation, Dana realized that there was no way she could get to the desk, pick up the laptop, and run away without the Hunter killing her first. Looking around the room and thinking quickly, she noticed how many chairs and desks there were.

Taking in a deep breath and making a quick decision, Dana threw open the door, running out from behind it, and picked up a nearby chair. The Hunter immediately turned away from its meal and faced Dana, disturbed by her noise. She threw the chair at the four legged monster, hitting it square in the head. Ignoring the hard wood of the chair as it smashed into its head, the Hunter jumped towards Dana and forced her to dive underneath a nearby desk. The Hunter Crashed through the wall behind where she had been standing. Dana took this chance to run over to the desk and grabbed her laptop.

As she turned, she caught a glimpse of the bloody remains of the receptionist on the floor, realizing that could be her if she didn't do something in a few seconds. The Hunter was running towards her again, lunging in for the kill. Dana grabbed for the desk chair behind her and pulled it up in front of her just in time, shoving it into the Hunter's mouth.

As the Hunter stumbled and struggled to remove the chair from its oversized mouth, Dana took cover under another desk. Yanking open her laptop, she jammed her finger on the power button. Luckily it powered up quickly. Dana opened the file that she had meant to show Alex earlier. Turning up the computers volume as high as it could go, she pressed the play button just as the Hunter broke the chair into pieces with its teeth.

A high pitched screeching sound came out from the speakers. The Hunter started to come after Dana again, but then stopped in its tracks. It started to make strange sounds and stumbled backwards. Holding its head with its hands, it toppled over onto its back. Writhing in pain, the Hunters ears started to ooze blood.

Dana stood up from under the desk, holding the laptop and continuing to play the sound. Staring down at the Hunter, she realized it was unable to do any harm to her now. As she looked down at the dying monster, she heard painful cries from other nearby Hunters outside. "So, it really does work. Lucky for me." Dana commented to herself as the Hunter's movements came to a stop. "It works better than I had guessed."

Turning off the sound, Dana walked to the entrance of the building. She looked back at the now dead Hunter on the ground before turning and ducking under the broken boards once again.


	2. Setbacks

Feeling more confident than before now, Dana looked around the street. She was satisfied at how well her findings had worked out. Then she heard a sound down the street as if somebody had landed a jump from very high up. Footsteps followed the noise, and as they got closer Dana was able to make out Alex walking towards her along the dark street.

As he came closer Dana smiled victoriously. Alex looked somewhat confused. "What happened here? Hunters were running away from this direction."

"I know. Are you ready to listen to what I have to show you now?" Dana asked.

"Listen? Sure, go ahead."

Lifting up her laptop, Dana began to explain what the noise did. "It's a noise that seems to somehow affect the Hunters. Once it starts, the Hunters are completely helpless. It probably has the same affect on zombies. I found it in-" As soon as Dana pushed the button to play the sound, Alex began screaming in pain. He held his head in his hands, and fell to his knees. "Alex!"

Dana stopped the noise at once. Setting down the laptop she bent over to see if her brother was alright. He was fine, but looked shocked and was breathing hard.

"You going to be okay?" Danna still looked to her brother with concern.

After receiving a nod from Alex, Dana breathed a sigh of relief and continued what she had been saying, "I found it pretty deep in the Gentech files. It definitely wasn't easy to find."

"That ringing… My head..." Alex sat up, holding his head with one hand still.

"Sorry Alex... I didn't think that would happen… But I guess you're not all that different from the Hunters now…"

"Yeah… Guess not."

"I thought it could be useful, but I can't really use it while you're around now that we've seen what happens."

Dana picked her laptop up and stood up. Alex also stood up and then turned, starting to walk away. Dana caught up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Where are you going now?"

Alex looked down at the ground. Then he finally answered after a few seconds, "I have some things to take care of."

With that, he shook Dana's hand off his shoulder, ran down the street, and jumped up and out of sight. Dana frowned.

With Alex off doing whatever it was that he was doing, Dana decided it was time for her to take more action herself. Now that she had a way to fight off zombies, she didn't have that much to fear. Beginning to walk down the street, she left the front of the business building. Keeping to the shadows of the night so she wasn't seen, she headed in the direction she believed the closest hive was in.

Dana was ready to put her finding to the ultimate test. Alex was stronger than the Hunters, and if the sound made him so helpless that he fell to the ground in pain, then she was ready for a bigger enemy target.

As she approached the strongly infected area Dana heard the roars of numerous Hunters. It made her nervous, but she didn't slow her pace. She needed to do this, and didn't want to be scared and helpless.

Coming nearer and nearer to the hive, the roar of Hunters became much louder. Dana began to shake slightly, but continued walking. Turning her laptops volume up to full once again, Dana began to play the high pitched sound.

The hive was now in her sight. She could see Hunters standing all around it. The pulsating globs on the side of the building looked as if they were about to hatch even more Hunters. Zombies were gurgling and scuffling around aimlessly on the street in front of what used to be a normal building, the strange red-orange fungus from the hive growing under their feet.

Dana hesitated for a second at the sight, but then forced herself to persist moving forward. The Hunters standing around noticed her and sent out blood thirsty roars of hatred. Moving towards her at amazing speed, they had no idea Dana had the ability to stop them in their tracks.

Dana stopped walking. It was time. The sound would either work or end in complete disaster. Turning her laptop to face the hunters straight on, Dana braced herself for whatever was going to happen.

The Hunters reached Dana in seconds. The first few lifted up their clawed hands to take a blow at her. Dana jerked her head away, flinching, but nothing happened. She turned back to see why, and looked on amazed at the thirteen or so Hunters squirming in agony on the ground.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Dana continued to walk on, passing between the dying Hunters. She walked straight towards the Hive. The pulsating globs of fungus broke open to release more Hunters onto her. Not slowing her pace or stopping this time, Dana walked on.

The Hunters charged at Dana just like the others. As the neared her, they fell to the ground. Coming closer and closer to the Hive, Dana smiled as hunters fell around her left and right. The zombies then started to approach her as well, but they were dispatched more quickly than the Hunters; within two to three seconds.

Before long there was no longer anything to protect the Hive. Dana was standing right next to it now. She raised her laptop above her head, facing the Hive. The remaining blobs imploded, but nothing more happed. The fungus didn't retreat.

Waiting a few more minutes to be sure, Dana lowered her laptop, disappointed. She was able to do away with Hunters and zombies, and maybe even Alex, but she couldn't destroy an entire Hive. This was something that Alex would have to help with. Dana was frustrated at this realization, but was happy that she wasn't helpless like she was before.

Looking down at her laptop Dana gasped. There was only one battery bar left on her computer. Looking up at the Hive, she saw that the pulsating blobs were beginning to reform. Looking up and down the street, Dana began to run in the direction of her old safehouse. She needed to charge her laptop before she was attacked again.

As Dana ran down the street, she once again noticed that it was almost too quiet. All she could hear were her own footsteps. She reached her safehouse within a few minutes. Running inside, she closed the door behind her and sat in front of it to catch her breath.

"Carrying a laptop around is _not _gonna work forever…" Dana said to herself. "I need to find a way to put that noise on a portable device that has longer lasting batteries."

Standing up, Dana walked over to her desk. There were numerous electronic devices sitting there, but none of them where right. She glanced at the corkboard above the desk. It was filled with papers from magazines and newspapers. There was an add that caught Dana's eye. A cell phone add.

Ripping it out from its tack, Dana looked at the paper. "That's it." Dana smiled to herself. "I'll find some sort of communication device that Alex and I can use. And hopefully one that can store sounds."

The next day, Dana looked around abandoned shops in Midtown Manhattan. She managed to scavenge some sort of high tech walky-talkies. Hoping she could find some way to import the sound onto them, Dana took them back to the safehouse.

After spending some time hacking into the walkie-talkies programming, Dana found a way to import the anti zombie sound into them.

Wondering when Alex would come back, Dana spent the next two days staying in the safehouse digging deeper into the Gentech files, and watching a few movies. On the night of the second day, Dana heard movement behind her as she was watching TV. She spun around, her walkie-talkie in hand. It was Alex.

"Oh, it's you. You really need to stop doing that." Dana snapped at Alex.

Alex ignored the comment. "What're you watching?"

Dana, although miffed, answered, "It's just some zombie movie."

Alex looked at the TV as a dog tried to protect his owner from rabid zombies. "I wish that's all we had to deal with."

"I know, right? Anyways, here." Dana threw a radio at Alex. He caught it. "That's so we can stay in touch." Alex looked down at the walkie-talkie. "I also killed a bunch of Hunters off if that makes any difference for whatever you're doing out there."

"It doesn't." Alex turned and began to walk towards the door.

"Wait." Dana was becoming irritated and felt as if Alex wasn't telling her everything. "Listen, I've minded my own business till now, but I need to know. What is it exactly that you're doing out there?"

Alex turned back to face her. "It doesn't really concern you Dana."

"Oh it doesn't?" Dana asked with and annoyed tone. "I'm your sister. I think whatever it is that your doing does concern me, Alex."

"No, not really." Alex turned away again and began moving to the door.

Dana was furious now. She pulled out her radio and pushed the button to start the noise that she killed the Hunters with. Just like before, as soon as the high pitched screeching noise began, Alex fell to his knees holding his head screaming. Dana only used the sound for a second and then turned it off.

Alex got up off the floor, still holding his head with one hand. He looked up at Dana, moderately surprised, but also quite pissed off. Dana walked straight up to him and stood between him and the door. After Alex had recovered enough, he looked at Dana. She was still holding the radio. "Tell me. What are you doing Alex?"

Alex still held his head. He walked towards Dana as if he would push her out of the way. She held up the radio. Stopping, Alex sighed, "Dana, I know you won't purposefully hurt me. Especially not now."

Dana looked at him indignantly. "Try me then."

Alex nodded slowly. He took a couple more steps towards her and began to walk around her to the door. Dana stood there holding the radio, shaking now. Alex opened the door behind her and walked out. "You see?" He said just before he closed the door behind him with a click.


	3. Welcome to Gentech

Dana decided that she and Alex both probably needed to take a break from one another, so she waited until the next day to call him on the radio. "Alex? Are you there Alex?" There was no response, so she tried again. "Alex, I have some info to give you."

There was still no reply. Dana was about to try calling again when, just then, sound came from the other end. She could hear the sound of gun shots and screaming. "There he is! Zeus is here!"

Puzzled, Dana put down the radio. Why had she heard the military on the walkie-talkie? Dana shook her head, walking over to the door and leaving the safehouse.

Walking down the street, Dana attempted to radio Alex again. "Alex? What are you doing? I heard people yelling."

Dana continued walking as she waited for a response. Receiving nothing, Dana became annoyed again. She knew that Alex wasn't telling her something. He was supposedly destroying Hives, but it seemed as if he were doing something else.

As Dana made her way farther into the Theater District, she heard the sound of Hunters roaring nearby. She quickly picked up her pace and began to run down a street towards the sound, looking forward to getting some excitement in and some frustration out. Approaching the Hive where the Hunters were, Dana saw that the military had already gotten there before her, shooting at the pulsating blobs on the side of the building.

Taking out her walkie-talkie again, Dana began to play the anti zombie sound, planning to help. Running up to the nearest military man, she yelled over the gunfire, "Tell them to stop shooting! I can help!"

He looked over at her, surprised. "Are you crazy!" He turned back to the hive, continuing to shoot, ignoring her request.

She gave him an intense stare and then turned up the frequency and volume of the sound she was playing. She then stepped between two soldiers, out right in front of the Hive, causing the nearby soldiers to stop firing as she walked towards what used to be an ordinary building. Hunters stormed towards her from all around, but each dropped like flies once they were about thirty two yards or so away from her.

The military soldiers looked on in awe. They had no idea what had just happened, having no knowledge of the sound Dana had discovered. They all watched as Dana walked closer and closer to the hive as if it were a walk in the park. But then, suddenly, they all gasped. A Leader Hunter had emerged from over the top of the infected building. It jumped down and began to charge directly at Dana, it's small beady eyes focused only on her. She turned the frequency and volume of the sound up as high as possible. The Leader Hunter's pace slowed, but it still made its way towards her, being much stronger than the average Hunter.

Once the Leader Hunter was about six yards away, Dana turned and began to retreat. The soldiers began to shoot at the monster, but Dana stopped in her tracks as she saw Alex on the ground a ways in front of her, behind the soldiers. He was holding his head with one hand, while trying unsuccessfully to crawl forwards to help Dana.

Then, without warning, Dana felt something cold run over her shoulder. She gave out a small yell as she felt pain, but turned to see the Hunter leader lying dead at her feet. The soldiers stared at her with a mix between horrified and dumbfounded expressions. Then one cried out abruptly, "OMG! IT'S ZEUS!" He pointed behind the line of people. She looked back to him to see where he was pointing and saw Alex now lying on the ground making muffled sounds of agony, holding a hand to his head like he had before.

Dana switched the sound off from her radio as quickly as she could with her shaking hands. Alex slowly began to push himself up, arms also shaking.

Dana looked over at the soldiers to see they had all raised their guns once more, pointing them at Alex now. She hoped that Alex could take a few bullets even in the condition he was in, not being able to stop the soldiers herself. The soldiers open fired. Alex began to run in the opposite direction, but Dana noticed that he was considerably slower than usual.

Once Alex was out of sight, the soldiers stopped firing. They then radioed in that Zeus had been sighted. Dana then realized that she had a sharp pain coming from the top of her shoulder. A soldier came over to her. "Looks like a bullet just missed you."

"Oh, so that's what that was…" Dana felt her back and winced as she ran her fingers over where the bullet had skimmed across her skin.

"How did you do what you did?" The soldier looked curious.

"What?"

"How'd you kill that Hunter fellow there?" He asked, nodding to the corpse.

Dana told him and the other soldiers about how she discovered the noise that seems to cause the infected's brains to implode. The commander of the military team walked over to Dana. "I just talked to the new head of Gentech. He says he would be thrilled if you worked for him. What do you say?"

Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to dig deeper into the Gentech files and find more information to help Alex, Dana replied without hesitation, "Yes."

The commander smiled. "Then we'll take you right to the new Gentech base. With somebody like you on our side, we'll be rid of this infestation before we know it."

Dana smiled, but inside she felt badly. This soldier had no idea what Gentech was really up to. Just like many others, he was being tricked into thinking good was coming from Gentech, but she knew better then to believe such lies as that.

The military soldiers safely brought Dana to the new Gentech headquarters. It was in the middle of a safe zone in the center of a military base. Dana and the soldiers walked through the heavily armed fortress gates. With barbed wire all around the tall walls and heavy artillery all around, Dana couldn't imagine how any normal human being or zombie could break in.

As the military commander led Dana to the inside of the base, she noticed a man leaning against a wall not too far away. He had gray hair with one white streak on the right side. Holding some sort of pole type thing in his right hand and crossing his arms, he looked at Dana with a smirk and a strange glint in his eye. Dana walked in the door, trying to ignore him, but getting a strange feeling that he meant trouble.

The commander introduced Dana to a couple of Gentech researchers. He then left them to show Dana to her room. They walked up three flights of stairs, stepping into a long hallway, and one researcher pointed to the left. "The cafeteria is down that way. Turn left at the end of the hall and you will see double doors. Its open 24/7 and the food is free as long as you do your job."

Dana nodded and then followed them as they turned to the right and headed down the hall. There were numerous other hallways that branched off from the main one. They passed four of these until they turned down the fifth one.

Passing two doors, they pulled out a key and opened the third door. "Here you are; room 352." They handed Dana the key and explained to her what she was supposed to help them research. They also told her that her room had everything she would need waiting for her, but if she did for whatever reason need anything else that she could just ask for it. "We don't have anything like room service, but if you need something like new bedding material that's never a problem."

Thanking them for showing her around, Dana entered her room as they began to walk back down the hall towards the stairs. Entering her room, Dana was pleasantly surprised at how homey it felt. There was a desk with a computer, a couch, a small TV, and a bed with a bedside table and alarm clock.

Taking out her walkie-talkie, Dana decided that she should probably try to check up on Alex. Holding down the talking button, she spoke into the microphone. "Hey Alex, you there? I wanted to make sure you were okay from earlier."

She waited a few seconds. And then unexpectedly, there was a reply. "Dana?" There was no sound in the background this time.

Dana looked to the device, surprised. "Yeah, it's me. You okay?"

"I'm fine."

Dana sighed, and then replied, "Good. What are you doing?" She held her breath, hopping there would be truth in the answer this time.

Alex answered, "Nothing. I'm just in an infected area and-" He was cut off somehow, and Dana heard a sound as if the radio had hit the ground.

"Alex!"

Dana waited about ten seconds until Alex answered. "Hunters. Gotta go." Hearing the hunters roaring in the background, Dana set the walkie-talkie on her bedside. She wasn't too worried. He could take a few Hunters on. And not to mention he sounded perfectly fine.

Laying on her bed, Dana was about to turn off her light when she heard a sound that did make her slightly concerned. Her walkie-talkie made a screaming noise, the sound that a speaker makes when you get it too close to a microphone, mixed with the roar of Hunters. Then there was a click, and after that there was no sound at all. Dana sat up abruptly, picking up the communication device. She looked at the small screen as a message panned across it; connection lost. This told Dana one thing; she had lost connection with Alex. His walkie-talkie had been destroyed.

Dana only allowed herself to worry for a few moments, not wanting to upset herself. She shook her head and told herself that Alex was fine. He had probably just dropped the walkie-talkie. He hadn't cared for it much anyways. Nodding to this, Dana lay back down and went to sleep.


	4. A Bad Decision

The next day, Dana woke up late. She looked at her alarm clock and sighed. "12:39 already? You've got to be kidding me…" Forcing herself to get up, Dana changed clothes fairly quickly and put on a baseball cap to cover up her bed head. She then walked down the hall towards the cafeteria. She was starving.

As she walked through the cafeteria doors, Dana noticed for the first time that there were cameras all around, lining the walls. Feeling a little uncomfortable at the fact that she and the other people here were being monitored, she walked into the busy room. She gathered cheap looking food together onto a tray and sat down at an empty table.

Before she knew it, a soldier came and sat at the opposite side of the table as her. It was the same man she had seen standing outside the day before, the one who had gray hair with a white streak that could be seen more clearly now. He smiled at her. Dana raised one eyebrow at him, but then looked back down to her food as she continued to eat, ignoring him.

He looked into her eyes and said something Dana half expected, "You know, there really aren't too many women around here."

Dana rolled her eyes. "Get a life."

He looked disappointed but tried again, "My names Robert. Robert Cross, the Specialist."

Dana looked away with and uninterested nod and kept eating her food. "That's nice."

Robert frowned at her. A small group of scientists and researchers came over and sat at the table as well. Standing up, Robert looked at Dana. "We'll see each other again." And with that, he left.

Dana then turned her attention to the other people that were now sitting at the table with her. They were talking about normal things just like normal people. It was almost as if they believed that the zombie infestation wasn't as bad as it seemed. She was about to attempt to join into the conversation when an ear piercing alarm suddenly sounded.

Red lights flashed everywhere, and people started to stand up all over the room. A robotic female voice came over the speaker system announcing, "RED ALERT. RED ALERT. ALL WORKERS PLEASE PROCEED TO YOUR ROOMS. THIS IS AN EMERGANCY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

People in the cafeteria all looked around as if they didn't understand what had just been said. Nobody said a word, and the alarm continued to sound, the voice repeating itself over and over. Then, all of a sudden a door burst open. Dana swung her head around along with the other people around her and gasped. There was no mistaking that figure standing in the doorway. It was Alex. He had out his whip arm, and immediately began to grab and throw people all over the place.

Dana ran through the door on the opposite side of the room along with many terrified, screaming people. Most dispersed to their own paths as Dana ran as fast as she could to her room. She had no idea why Alex was here. She hadn't told him she was there and she didn't necessarily want him to find out, not sure how he would react.

As Dana reached her door, she was horrified to find that it was locked. She reached into her pocket for her keys and looked down the hall to see many other people running in her direction. Alex skidded around the corner, now with his blade arm out. He sliced through everyone in his path, blood splattering on the walls. Dana was fumbling with her keys at her door, unable to open it with her shaking hands.

Alex charged up to her and slammed her to the wall and then to the ground, using his free hand. He was just about to slice her as well when he stopped his swing, his blade right at her neck. "Dana?" He looked down at her in confusion. "No… can't be…"

Lowering his blade arm, Alex took hold of the bill of the hat that Dana was wearing, taking it off. Too taken aback for words, Alex stood up and stumbled backwards, staring at Dana's face. After a few seconds, he was somewhat over his shock. "What are you doing here!" He now had an angry tone to his voice.

Dana stood up and faced him, now mostly calm seeing he wouldn't hurt her. He was standing in front of her door. "I'm helping them, and I need to get to my room to do that."

Alex glared at her. "_Your _helping _them_? You might be my sister Dana, but… working with the enemy makes you one as well…" He brought his blade arm up once more, as a threat now.

Dana shrugged. "Go ahead. Slice me in half Alex, but you can't do that now can you?"She walked around him to her door. Alex's expression changed from angry, to a look of hurt and confusion. Dana finally unlocked her door and stepped inside. She turned to face Alex, and he turned to face her as well. With a serious stare she made her point, "You see?" And then, just as he had done to her, she closed her door in his face.

Dana stood facing the door listening to the alarm continuing to sound. Then she heard Alex yell over the noise, "Dana! What the hell do you think you're doing!" Dana didn't reply, so Alex began to knock on the door, although it didn't sound like a knock so much as what it would sound like for a normal person to pound their fist against the wood with much force. "Dana, don't make me break through this door!"

Knowing that Alex could and would break through her door, Dana moved to the side. She waited for him to crash through, but nothing happened. He had stopped hitting the door, and didn't say anything. Deciding he must have left, Dana was about to let out a long sigh and sink into her couch when she heard her anti zombie noise.

Looking down at her walkie-talkie, Dana confirmed it wasn't coming from anything belonging to her. She then realized with regret that she had told the soldiers and other Gentech researchers about the sound file.

Dana threw open her door. Alex lay on the ground in front of her, writhing in agony once more. Fully regretting what she had shared with Gentech and the military, Dana looked down the hall to see military soldiers running towards her and Alex. Included in this group was Robert, the man that had been bothering her earlier.

Holding some sort of new sound device in his hand, Robert ran up to Alex and held it up to his ear. Alex let out a loud scream of pain. Blood began to flow out of his ears and nose. Dana stared down, unable to help her brother at this point, feeling extremely guilty, but knowing she couldn't do much.

Alex's movements began to slow down. His screams stopped, and eventually his hands went limp from his hold on his head. Robert smiled and turned the frequency and volume down, but kept the sound playing. One soldier from the day before looked down at Alex nervously. "Is he… Dead?"

Robert laughed. "Of course not. Gentech wants this one alive." He looked up at Dana and winked at her. Dana didn't notice though, she was still too shocked to see Alex in the state he was in. Robert tried to get her attention, "That was pretty close there. Another second and it looks like you could have been a goner. Good thing I was here."

Dana shook her head in disgust. The soldiers picked Alex up and began to walk with him down the hall, Robert still holding the noise device near his ear. Not knowing what she should do, Dana looked down the hall and watched them as they carried Alex around the corner towards the stairs.


	5. Basement Floor 6

Dana wanted to know what was happening so badly that she could barely stop herself from walking out her door and finding out where Alex was. But she knew she had to wait. She didn't want to raise any suspicion. Fifteen minutes passed and then twenty-five. Once she had waited for thirty minutes she couldn't take it anymore. She had to know what they were doing with her brother.

Walking down the hall, Dana entered the cafeteria where Alex had attacked earlier. Tables were knocked over everywhere and there was food spilled all over the normally spotless ground. There were a few people with mops scattered around the large room. Dana walked over to one of them, "Do you know what they did with… with Zeus?"

The man looked up at Dana. He chuckled. "Why? Do you want to interview him?" Dana glared at him, not amused. He stopped mopping. "Alright, sorry. I'm pretty sure they took him down into a holding cell in the bottom basement."

Dana nodded. "Okay, thank you." She walked out of the cafeteria and down the stairs. She reached the first floor, and looked around to see if she could find another stair well.

One of the researchers that had shown Dana around was walking down the hall towards her. They stopped in front of her. "Is there something you're looking for Dana?"

Not wanting to lie in case she didn't sound sincere, Dana answered, "Yes, I was actually wondering where they took Zeus." She then threw in her newly found information, hoping it would help somehow, "I understand there are holding cells in the bottom basement. Do you know how I could get there?"

The researcher looked at Dana with a worried expression. "Well yes, I do... But I don't think they would want unauthorized personnel going down there."

Dana tried to sound curious and innocent. "Oh, I know. I won't cause trouble or anything. I just want a quick look. Just tell me where to go and I'll be in and out faster than you could believe." She paused and the added, "Please," finding it harder to hide her anxiousness.

Nodding, but looking a bit unhappy, the researcher hastily showed Dana an elevator in a room marked as security only. Dana stepped into the elevator and pressed the button marked B6, the floor the researcher had told her to go to before they had left her. It was the lowest floor in the whole building. Dana would have had no idea there was a basement that went underground six whole floors.

The elevator beeped as she reached the floor. The doors opened and Dana stepped out into a long hallway. It was much cooler below the building than Dana thought it would be, and considerably darker as well.

Beginning to walk down the corridor, Dana's footsteps echoed off the cement walls. In response to the noise, she heard numerous growling and gurgling sounds throughout the hall. She passed a few doorways and peered inside small windows where there were zombies behind highly secure metal bars. She passed many doors until she was near the end of the hall. She hadn't seen Alex anywhere yet and was beginning to doubt he was even there.

She was four doors away from the end of the hall when she saw something that surprised her. There was a Hunter inside one of the cells. It had been injured badly and looked as if Gentech had been experimenting on it. There were incisions all over its body.

Passing the Hunter by, Dana looked in the remaining three doors. Alex wasn't in any of them. There were two swinging doors at the very end of the hallway. They had no windows in them which meant no way of knowing who or what would be behind them. Walking up to them, Dana took in a deep breath and then slowly began to open one.

Poking her head through the door, Dana was amazed to find another hallway that met with the first hall she had just been in, crisscrossing to create the shape of a T. The only difference in this hall was that there were only ten doors, but they were much bigger and more secure than the others. They had no windows in them, and they appeared to have an extra thick metal frame. The hallway was very well lit compared to the one that she had just left, and the ceiling, walls, and floor were all painted white. There was a soft humming sound that Dana guessed was coming from a power source.

Stepping into the new hall and walking over to one of the large doors, Dana examined it. She discovered that there was some sort of locking mechanism that required a special key and code. It also looked like the kind of lock that relocks by itself once the door is closed. There was also a radio by the door that she guessed would be used to talk to anyone inside. Dana was continuing to examine the door when she heard a clank noise come from down the hall. Jumping, Dana looked around to find somewhere to hide, but finding no hiding place, stood and waited, preparing to act lost.

The sixth door down the hall opened and one of the soldiers she had first met came out. He made sure the door was closed and then half walked, half ran over to Dana. "OMG! You'll never believe it! We got Zeus! And he's right down the hall there in holding cell six! It's unbelievable!" He ran off through the swinging doors. Dana just stood there, mouth hanging open a bit.

Getting over her slight shock, Dana quickly moved down the hall to door six. She knew she wouldn't be able to get in, so she tried the radio by the door. "Excuse me? It's Dana, the researcher. Could you let me in for a minute or two?"

Waiting for an answer, Dana drummed her fingers on her arm impatiently. She didn't expect a yes, but she still figured she should give it a try. It took a few seconds until an answer came. "Dana? Of course you can come in. Any time." Dana frowned at the voice that answered her. Just her luck that Robert was in there.

The door clicked as Robert opened it from the inside, a cheesy smile on his face. "Welcome, sweet princess that fills my world with-" Dana walked past him without a glance and he stopped what he was saying. Taking in her surroundings quickly, Dana saw that this room was huge compared to the others she had seen. There were counters on two walls of the room, but it was fairly empty other than that. In the middle of the room were a few Gentech workers who were around what seemed to be something close to the kind of chair you would sit in at the dentists.

Dana had to hold in her worried expression and replace it with a forced smile when she saw Alex in the chair. His arms were in large metal clamps on the armrests of the chair, which Dana guessed were to insure safety for the workers in case he became conscious and tried to escape.

The anti zombie sound that Dana had discovered could be heard playing at a low volume and frequency. It would be just enough to stop Alex from shape shifting and drain him of his energy and power. Robert walked up to Dana, "Isn't this the best? And you and I can be part of it all together."

Dana couldn't help but to scowl at Robert. "Yeah, it's just wondrous. I think adding a pony and some fairies would just make it perfect."

Robert smiled and ignored the bite in her voice, twirling his stun baton around in one hand. He walked over to Alex and poked him with it, the electricity off. He didn't get any response from the unconscious captive, so he turned on the power to his weapon and proded Alex with it again. Dana winced at the sight of her brothers body jerking. Robert stopped after a few seconds and smiled as Alex slowly opened his eyes.

Alex glared up at Robert. He couldn't see Dana because she was slightly behind him. She didn't know if she wanted him to see her anyways. Robert smiled down at Alex, twirling his baton once more. Alex didn't say a word, still glaring up at his captor. Dana was thinking the anti infected noise had more of an effect than she had originally thought on him, even at the current frequency. But she was proven wrong almost immediately when Alex's leg flew upwards, hitting Robert square in the face with his foot.

Roberts's nose began to bleed at once, and he stumbled backwards, away from his captive along with the Gentech workers as Alex continued to try kicking at him. Alex stopped once Robert was too far away for his reach, but he continued to glare at him through unblinking eyes. Robert held onto his nose, but didn't let that stop him from ordering angrily, "Clamp down his legs too you damn fuckups!..."

A Gentech worker moved towards Alex from behind, holding a needle. Dana frowned and said to herself under her breath, "He hates needles…"

The worker turned to face her. "What was that you said?"

"Oh, I was just wondering what that was…"

At the sound of Dana's voice, Alex stopped glaring at Robert and swung his head around as far as he could to see her. Dana looked at him, he looked exhausted, so exhausted that there couldn't be much more to the expression than that. The worker stuck the needle into his neck, as Dana looked away, feeling guiltier than ever.

She turned back after a few moments to see Alex quickly lose consciousness once more. "It was just a tranquilizer. He'll be out for a few hours."

"Good." Robert was frowning, but somehow still had the look of victory. "Now fasten his legs down so that doesn't happen again." He walked towards the door, muttering to himself, "I'm surrounded by idiots…"

As Robert reached the door, he turned around to face Dana, blood running down from his nose and into his mouth as he spoke to her, "This is no place for a researcher to be without proper permission… Or protection. You should come with me." He said to her smiling again.

Dana looked to Alex, worried, but knew she had to listen to Robert. As much as she hated to tell herself, Alex would have to wait. She followed Robert out the door with a loud click.

As the two were going up the elevator, Robert continued to sweet talk Dana who wasn't paying any attention to him. He kept going on about how great he was, although Dana was completely ignoring him. She didn't want to hear about how he had killed off the last runner or whatever it was that he thought he did that was so great, she was thinking about how she could help Alex.

Eventually getting the idea that Dana wasn't interested, Robert stopped talking. Once the elevator opened on the first floor, Dana stepped out and walked straight towards the stairs without a second glance or word to Robert. It was about the time she would normally eat, but Dana wasn't hungry. So, she passed up the cafeteria and went straight to her room to think her options through.

The moment Dana walked through her door, her phone began to ring. She moved right over to the desk it sat on and quickly picked it up, "Hello?"

The person that had called was the head researcher of the base. They told her that because she was the one that discovered the sound they had gotten so much use out of, that they would like Dana to help with their new main research project. They wanted her to help with and record the experiments they were planning to initiate on Zeus. She accepted immediately. She needed to know what they were doing with her brother.

The person on the phone told her that she would start helping tomorrow. They began to give her the instructions on how to get to the holding cell that Alex was in, but because Dana already knew where to go, she began to doodle on a piece of paper that sat in front of her on the desk. The researcher said they were glad to have her working with them, and then said goodbye before hanging up.

Dana crumpled up the picture she had drawn and shoved it into her pocket. She sat at her desk for a few more hours, trying to find something on her laptop that could possibly help her, but she found nothing. She finally went to bed at one in the morning, but had a very difficult time getting to sleep.

* * *

**Alright, so I realize that good ol' Robert really isn't in character at all... I honestly just kind of added him to make fun of him cuz I hate him so much, as does my friend xP**

**This is the first time I've put anything up on fanfiction, so I'm still figuring some stuff out too. **

**Anayways, I hope you're all enjoying reading this! :) **


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